Well guys. I picked up my 1911 tonight then inspected it and cleaned the packing oil off it.

I found some handling marks on the polished surface of the slide above the thumb safeties. *The marking is especially noticeable on the left side of the slide, as if a hard object had been slid upward from the safety. *It's a polished surface so I suppose I could polished the mark out. *All this would be fine, but upon further inspection I found an area under the right side safety on the frame where there is metal spalling, like a 2-3 millimeter chip of metal that is still attached on one side of the chip.*

As a mechanical engineer who's familiar with metalurgy I suspect the slide had an imperfection under the surface of the forging. *Once machined and polished that imperfection was revealed. Had more material been removed, a divot would have been left on the surface under the right side thumb safety. *As it is, it is hanging by one side and lifted up on another. *

I can't accept this in a $1000+ pistol. *I realize that this is likely not a defect someone at the retail shop would have created, but am now stuck to deal with this.

Is this something I should send to SA? I'm not thrilled with the idea that I'll have to pay to send a brand new pistol to SA for repair ( most likely a new frame). Do I return it to the retail shop? They have a no return policy, but my credit card company should help sort that out.

Or do I tell the retail shop to reimburse me for the shipping to and from SA?

I would call SA and tell them they let a defective weapon out of the plant and ask them how they plan to remedy the situation...

Call SA and talk to them. They should take care of it for you. I wouldn't accept it either.

I would definitely give SA a call, they should take care of your shipping both ways. Everyone I know that has dealt with SA customer service came away satisfied.

I'm disappointed with this thing, not just because of the defect. The front of the frame is not machined straight. There is more metal on one side of the dust cover than the other side which is near paper thin. I read about this on one forum, but figured it was an isolated case.

Also, the frame to slide fitment is not as good as the Loaded model I handled at the local shop. I have a 9 mm that cost less than 1/2 of this SA with better fitment. There is more play than I expected and certainly more than the one I handled.

The only positive thing is that I love the black and polished SS.

I'll call SA in the morning.

Frame to slide fitment on a 1911 isn't the same as on a lot of other weapons. Remember, the design was focused on combat versatility and complete interchangeability of parts. A little play side to side and even up and down isn't a bad thing as long as it locks up properly.

Yeah. I get that; however, I'm comparing this pistol to another SA Loaded, a Kimber and a Colt I handled at the local shop. It's probably not much more worst than the worst of the three I handled, but I expected it to be as tight as the other Loaded model.

I also handled a SA TRP that day, and it was tight!

to sum it up................THEY FIT! and if they dont fit then yer NOT gonna be accurate!

had a a few now over the years, and now its just my full size stainless springfield and my micro stainless compact. both DUNNED by nelson ford the gunsmith and ROBARED and NP3'd. micro is my DAILY CARRY. perfect size for CCW. with roguard finish i dont have to worry about daily scuffy marks or scratches living the "active porsche lifestyle" LOL!

always go bang and i have shot so many thru mine that my feel for them is really spot on. we dance 1 gallon milk jugs from 25 yds for grins.


but the BEST .45 EVER! is my HK P9S .45. until you have used juan and become familiar with juan, you aint shot a finer nor MORE ACCURATE .45. and prices are starting to get pretty damn goofy on them. $1400-$2000 for a combat and for a really clean NIB target P9S...............well its jus gonna flat kill yer wallet.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263560773.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263560907.jpg

remember anyjuan can shoot a 9mm fairly accurate. mastering a .45 in a small frame or a full size frame takes some practice. simple cheap ass drill is the "dance the milk jug across the dezert wastelands drill" pretty self explanatory.

hell of a lot more fun than punching paper.

the shorter the barrel with a .45 the less inherent accuracy yer gonna get due to less twist and the .45 rounds inherent ballistic coefficient.

so what im saying is if you have a milk jug 50 yds away and aim dead on with a short barrel small frame............yer gonna be hitting about 2 feet under the milk jug due to drop. full size full length barrel ya just hold dead on at 50 yds and blammo. depending on what sights you have. and how well you have drifted yer sights or if adj target corrected for windage elevation.


ya gots to shoot them ENOUGH to learn YER GUNS feelings about things. ya need to become "JUAN WITH YER GUN" and know its habits and where its gonna go IN STINK TIV LY!


im not trying to brag, but until you have shot 200 rds of yer flavorite flavor break in blammo, then taken it to a QUALIFIED gunsmith for a custom tune(titanium firing pin for starters), THEN shot 200 plus more rounds break in ammo thru it, THEN take it to ROBAR and have it NP3'd...............YOU really havent entered .45 UTOPIA like i have! and SWEET doesnt begin to describe how much more accurate and reliable they are than an "out of the box" .45.

I agree with the above post. I also see we share a taste in the Wilson Mags.

I have put alot of 45 through my small framed 1911.

Bill

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1264272497.jpg



For guys with 1911's if you can find one of these Marlin Camp 45 rifles, you can have a little carbine that's feed from 1911 magazines

Yes, the 45acp is a weak rifle round, but fun. (And was used in Thompson Sub machine guns)

NOT MY RIFLE THE PIC IS FROM GOOGLE SEARCH

Nice zombie setup. :)

The 9mm marlin camp carbine uses Smith and Wesson 3rd Generation auto magazines, so is a really solid compliment to anyone with a 9mm smith and wesson.

As another choice to the PK-380, you might like the Sig P238. It is very similar to the 1911 platform.

http://www.sigsauer.com/upFiles/cata...N-detail-L.jpg

Cool gun! I had a colt mustang for a while which this gun is a copy of.

I just didn't think that .380 was the answer.

Thanks for the suggestion hoots. I have yet to see one of those in person.

I was handling an LCP Ruger .380 the other night, those are very nice. Much nicer than the Kel Tec .380

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Sorry for the thread hijack.

m21sniper is looking at a Walther PK-380, and I believe he likes the 1911 platform. I thought he might like the P238. I like the .380 when shooting up to 25 feet. For me I use the Sig P232. It just depends on what you want to use the gun for. You can never have to many toys.:D

Here is a Texas ammo investigation of smaller calibers. The Box of Truth

http://www.sigsauer.com/upFiles/cata...n-detail-L.jpg

That Box o Truth test is flawed. His ammo selection was just unscientfic.


Back on topic:

One of the things like about the 1911 is how thin it is. Great for CCW.

My DW CBOB with thin grips from Esmeralda just disappears in my belt for IWB carry. Absolutely my favorite CCW. I have a Detonics Mk VI (also with thin grips, from VictoryArms) that is nearly as nice for CCW, but I need to get around to putting an ambi safety on it.

I remember reading an article, seems like a hundred years ago in American Heritage mag celebrating the 1911.
Great quote by some famous soldier - something like; you hardly ever need the damned thing, but when you do need it you need it a hell of a lot.

I think it went on to describe him, or some one else in a fox hole being over run by angry natives and the 1911 saved his azz.